Genealogy is a travel to the land of your ancestors. Some people are curious to know about their family history and the roots of their family. Do you want to walk to the trail of family history like everyone else?
The advancement in technology and the wider availability of the Internet has made it far less complex as you can find the digital trail that will point you in the right direction.
A person’s desire to know his or her family history is shaped by a number of reasons which might include the preservation of their ancestors into the larger historical picture.
This task entails the satisfaction of an individual’s responsibility towards their bloodline and fulfills their urge of expressing their inherited stories and inspirational quotes to their circle of acquaintances.
Come and walk with us through this article into the inspirational journey of genealogy and some of the interesting philosophical aspects of genealogy.
Please check out my Why Research My Family History – The Reasons post that will show you more reasons why people research their ancestry.
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Process of Genealogy Research
The search for your ancestors is derived by the curiosity about their way of life, as well as aspects other of their lives. This area of research is a fairly complex one with multiple processes of data sources, taking into account the original sources, sort the information and draw evidence accordingly.
Some of the procedures involved in researching for your ancestors are the following:
1. Genetic Investigation
The DNA of a person is one of life’s beautiful mysteries. It is something embedded in your blood that has all the answers to your burning questions.
The analysis of your DNA will reveal the history of your ancestors, which you are particularly interested in. The process is a collection of three specific parts of the DNA namely mitochondrial DNA, Y-Chromosome and Autosomal DNA.
The combination of these components of your DNA can shed some light on the trail you are supposed to follow when searching for your predecessors. DNA tests give you a clue of whether you are related to the other person or not.
Genetic test results on an individual base are compared to the databases of the descended people to find an appropriate match. One such project is the Molecular Genealogy Research Project that is devoted to research on how people are related to each other.
Please check out the DNA Genealogy Testing section of this site for further information.
2. Genealogy Software
This particular kind of software is designed to collect, sort, store and exhibit the genealogical data. There is a good chance that you will get basic information about the family you are looking for like marriages, births, and deaths.
A lot of programs allow you to include more information as well but it is difficult to keep track of the authentic sources of data collected. These programs can also provide you with family charts and reports.
It is exported in the GEDCOM format which is helpful in sharing the data with other individuals. The creators of this software work to contain the advanced features like restricting information on a particular person, sound files and the idea of same-sex marriage restrictions as well as historical family books.
This software will come handy if you want to search for your family history as it can cater to finding sources from other databases as well.
Please check out the Genealogy Software section of this site for further information.
3. Social Networking Services
The data generated from the genealogy software can be easily used for collaboration purposes as well.
People use this information to correctly write their family history as well as family trees on social networking platforms. This allows people to prioritize the format into a family website or add in the local databases.
4. Power of Volunteering
The contributions of volunteers are commendable in the field of genealogy. If someone is on the journey to finding their relatives, they intend to help out others as well.
There are numerous online groups and platforms like mailing lists and Rootschat enabling people to find their ancestors by requesting records, obtaining advice on how to conduct research from others and a lot of fun activities.
Volunteers work closely with the genealogists to log and name indexes for the records collected as the preservation of this information are imperative.
If someone is on the journey of family home town travels, they are encouraged to take photographs to record any findings of their ancestors.
A structured volunteer program was also rolled out a couple of years ago by a group of genealogists join the community from around the globe. These groups are focused on finding the ethnicity, geographical areas and surname of the particular descendant to investigate a historic event.
These volunteers travel around the world teaching others about the importance of preserving your family records, offering seminars and classes and assisting in transcription projects.
Philosophical Aspects of Genealogy
Genealogy is not a leisure activity and it stems from a person’s inquisitiveness of the world and his or her own place in it. They start asking about some of the fundamental questions about their past, present, and their future.
The satisfaction of telling the stories of your ancestors is a joyful moment and an insightful experience for the seeker. If we take a closer look, the questions asked by the person about their family history is also an ultimate foundation of all the religions.
Your curiosity takes you to your ancestors and to the creation of this world which ends up with the divine power who has created everyone around us. In this way the philosophical link between the religion and genealogy is profound.
If you see the flip side of the coin, you will realize that you are the culmination of multiple generations before you. This is the opposite side of the mirror telling you to invert your family tree and see a different perspective of life.
You are the future of the generations before you. You are the defining moment in your life and this process will carry on until resurrection.
Conclusion
There is a higher probability that your ancestors might have gone through a lot of hardships. Their life was considerably more difficult than yours due to a number of factors.
The knowledge of their sacrifices will give you the strength to move one and create a legacy for your coming generations.
Thank You and Please Leave A Comment
I hope you enjoyed this Walk to the Trail of Family History guide. If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below.
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This science is an integral part of history, which is especially important for those who are looking for the ancestors. The main thing in genealogy is to choose the right approach of collecting information.
It is history that is personal to us all, and I believe that every should research their ancestry.
I found this article very interesting as I too have thought about researching my past family. I wanted to start with my grandparents as I had only ever met one of them, my mothers mother. My father never mentioned his parents when he was alive. I thought this was odd and done a bit of research, I could not find his name under the births for his date of birth. I spoke to my sister about my dad’s sister who we used to see now and again as children.
She told me that she thought my dads sister was adopted, I thought then maybe my dad was adopted. I did more research and found out he was adopted and got a copy of his birth certificate. But I am still confused as it doesn’t really tell me who was his birth mother so I can do more research. I have therefore come to a dead end.
Anyway, reading your post has got me thinking about it again.
Thanks for the info,
Frank
Thank you Frank for your comment. I am glad to read that family history has interested you. Unfortunately we will encounter brick walls during our genealogy journey.
It’s great to see though that you have made some progress. I am planning to write some guides about finding records for adopted relatives.
For the meanwhile I hope you will check out the rest of this site as I’m sure you will find plenty of useful information to help you along the way.
All the best,
Owain
I don’t have any idea of my ancestors nor their identities of who they are. At least, I’d know the tribe or the nature of their business back then. Even a hint of their daily lives and their interests. Yet, I don’t know.
I tried researching my family history and found out that my lineage traveled from the Philippines to several parts of the United States back in early 1800s. They are the Tejanos. I googled them and found that the Tejanos are the derivation of Texans or musicians. From there, I got the idea that probably my ancestors were musicians, resulting in the surname itself.
That’s all I know about my ancestry. So, it’s no surprise that almost everyone in my maternal side are fond of music. 🙂
Mecyll
That’s great Mecyll. I am glad to hear that you have made a start on your family history. After all it does take one step to start your journey.
You can find helpful guides by checking out the rest of this site.
I wish you all the best,
Owain